Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm has made the 2023 CBC Poetry Prize shortlist for restitution OR Nanabush speaks to the settlers.

She will receive $1,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts and her work has been published on CBC Books.

The winner of the 2023 CBC Poetry Prize will be announced Nov. 23. They will receive $6,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts, a writing residency and have their work published on CBC Books.

Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm is from the Saugeen Ojibway Nation, Chippewas of Nawash Unceded First Nation in Ontario. Kateri is a writer, poet, spoken word artist, publisher, Indigenous arts activist, former Owen Sound and North Grey Poet Laureate, and Assistant Professor, Creative Writing, Indigenous Literatures and Oral Traditions at UofT, Scarborough. Her publications include a collection of short stories, The Stone Collection, radio plays, libretti, a graphic novel, Nimkii, spoken word albums, Standing Ground and A Constellation of Bones, a chapbook, bloodriver woman, and the collections of poetry, my heart is a stray bullet and (Re)Generation: The Poetry of Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm.

Akiwenzie-Damm told CBC Books that her inspiration for writing restitution OR Nanabush speaks to the settlers came from Indigenous experience: "Reconciliation in the minds of settlers and colonial governments always seems to assume that Indigenous people will continue to bend to fit the colonial project thereby causing the least possible disruption and discomfort to them. There always seems to be the presumption that Indigenous people will assimilate into dominant society and those ways of thinking and being, but never the other way around. I wondered what Nanabush would make of it."

You can read restitution OR Nanabush speaks to the settlers below.

i)
i have come to repossess your house
please vacate by noon
on the 1st day after the next full moon

you may take any personal items you can carry

the damage you have done to the land
will be assessed
and a bill will be sent by the restorative revenue agency
on the night of the new sugar moon

it must be paid in full
to avoid further charges

ii)
because you are indigent
i have arranged accommodations for you
at the swamp a two day canoe trip downriver
there you will find trees and hatchets
so you can build the traditional log homes of your forebears
to live out your remaining days in peace

please remember
you may not leave the marsh
without a pass
you will find the applications at our governance circle
mondays – thursdays from sunrise until the sun sits at the top of the sky
and every other friday from dusk until our children finish counting stars and fall asleep

iii)
to apply for a temporary travel permit in order to obtain a pass
please see your local indigent agent
and provide them with 4 ojibwe spirit horses
a repatriated drum
a bucket of odemin offered
after some have been given back to the earth
an unlimited cell phone plan
four smoked trout
a tin of stewed tomatoes
and one package of macaroni
if you do not have macaroni
kraft dinner will suffice
(original only)

upon obtaining the forms
note that they must be filled out in our languages
forms covered in foreign markings will be returned
a processing fee
postage and handling
will be applied to your account

failure to complete the forms fully
will result in delays
or a denial of your request
and additional penalties
will be accrued

should you require translation services
they will be provided upon request
the cost
including administration fees
will be added to your bill
and your illiteracy will be noted

iv)
i have come for your children
your account is in arrears
and you are illiterate
it has become clear
that you lack the mental acuity
to succeed
and are unfit to parent

it has been reported
that you live
without a shelter
and your possessions strewn about you
in the middle of a swamp

this despite the abundance of building materials
around you

please be aware
we will be adopting your children as our own
they will be taught to understand the meaning of kinship
to hunt and gather
make offerings
share the harvest
take only what they need
leg wrestle
tell stories
smoke tan hides
dance and sing
navigate the waters
read the stars
write poetry
make tea
sleep when they are tired
chew roots
giggle and tease
build lean-tos wigwams debris huts and tiipiis
and speak Anishinaabemowin

you will be permitted
regular supervised visits
and will regain custody
upon successful completion
of an anti-racist
decolonial
anti-corporate
land based
parenting and survivance program
in our language

the cost will be added to your account

v)
i have come to share your wealth
please note that capitalism
has become obsolete
paper money has zero value
banks are empty
their vaults were opened
and they held nothing but desire
those desires have been set free

do not be afraid
everything you need surrounds you

there are no more kings or queens
of nations
commerce
or country music

addendum a)
i am a "trickster"

this is not a drill

The winner of the 2023 CBC Poetry Prize will receive $6,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts, a writing residency and have their work published on CBC Books. Four finalists will each receive $1,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts and have their work published on CBC Books.

If you're interested in the CBC Literary Prizes, the 2024 CBC Nonfiction Prize opens in January and the 2024 CBC Poetry Prize opens in April. The 2025 CBC Short Story Prize will open in September.